Author: Jack

There have been lots of rumblings that the Atlanta Falcons were going to bench Kirk Cousins in favor of Michael Penix, Jr. since the Falcons had lost four games in a row entering last night’s game against the less-than-formidable Raiders.  Not so; Kirk Cousins started the game and finished the game, and the Falcons won a slog of a game by the score of 15-9.  No, this was not a titanic defensive struggle; this game was a demonstration of offensive ineptitude.

However, the Falcons won the game and advanced their record to 7-7-0 positioning them one game behind the Tampa Bay Bucs in the NFC South race and two games behind the Commanders for the final playoff slot in the NFC.  That positioning vis-à-vis the Commanders is important because the Falcons and Commanders will meet in Week 17 of this season.  That game could have significant playoff consequences – – if the Falcons now go on a winning streak.

So, the Falcons’ coaches are highly motivated to put the best squad on the field in order to try to “win out”.  The fact that they went with Cousins last night and stuck with him despite the anemic offensive showing tells me that the Falcons’ coaching staff believes that Cousins is the better QB in December 2024.  Those coaches see both guys every day in practice; those guys get paid in part for their ability to spot talent and then exploit it.  Those guys also know very clearly that their jobs and their reputations depend on the outcomes of their decisions in terms of wins and losses and playoff appearances.  The Falcons’ coaches saw Cousins perform in a significant performance trough for four weeks – – and they still went with him and not Penix.

After the game, Falcons head coach, Raheem Morris was asked what he thought of Cousins’ performance.  His answer was vintage coach-speak; he left each and every path forward open:

“He’s got to play better, and, you know, obviously, you’ve got to go back, you’ve got to be able to look at everything. But, you know, he wants to play better. He’s got to play better. We’ve got to find a way to get him to play better. And, obviously, we’ll get to work tomorrow, and that’s part of our process, right? You go and look at the tape, you review with the people it needs to be reviewed with, you know, we get all the coordinators in the room, we’ll talk with everybody, and we’ve got to play better at the quarterback position.”

If I were a sadistic high school English teacher, I would make you parse that paragraph, but we are not into sadism here in Curmudgeon Central.  So, let me just leave the QB situation in Atlanta with this assessment:

• Cousins was the choice last night and the Falcons won.  Having said that, the commentary from the head coach after the game allows for – – and even invites – – more rumblings and rumors about the QB position going forward.
• By the way, the Falcons game next week is against an opponent even more woebegone than the Raiders – – the NY Giants who are 2-12-0 for the year and who have lost 9 games in a row.

Moving on – – and staying on the subject of which QB should start for a team – – let me say something that will sound outrageous at first until you read why I said it:

• I hope that Patrick Mahomes will be unable to play QB for the Chiefs next week against the Texans.

I am not rooting against the Chiefs or for the Texans with that statement.  I am not hating on Patrick Mahomes.  Here is why I think that would be an interesting happenstance:

• The Chiefs’ backup QB is Carson Wentz.  His career started off on a rocket-like trajectory and has since crumbled not quite to dust but certainly to cinders.
• With most of a season under Andy Reid’s system in KC and now with a week’s worth of practice with the first-string players, I would want to see Wentz perform in something other than “mop-up duty”.
• Can Andy Reid and his “KC-Offense” squeeze competency out of Carson Wentz in 2024?
• The Chiefs are already guaranteed to be in the playoffs so this “side quest” for the team would be interesting to observe.

Switching gears …  The Chiefs are in the AFC playoffs this year but at the other end of the AFC spectrum, you can see the New England Patriots with a 3-11-0 record.  That is pretty miserable; and if you are a Pats’ fan, you might not be thrilled to see the remaining schedule for your heroes:

• 12/22/24:  At the Bills
• 12/29/24:  Vs. the Chargers
• 1/5/25:  Vs. the Bills again

Maybe in that final game of the season, the Bills will be starting Mitchell Trubisky at QB to give Josh Allen a rest?  That is the only bright spot I see …

Finally, here is a definition from The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm:

“Juice:  Something children won’t drink unless it comes in a square box with its own straw; something adults won’t drink unless it costs as much as their mocha latte and has been repackaged by corporate spin to include pomegranate, spirulina, and antioxidants.  Like anybody knows what antioxidants are anyway.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Jim Tunney died over the weekend at the age of 95.  He was a referee in the NFL from 1960 to 1990; he was an official just as the NFL was beginning to become a top TV attraction.  Tunney officiated three Super Bowl games – – Super Bowl VI, XI and XII.

Rest in peace, Jim Tunney.

I mentioned last week that LB, De’Vondre Campbell had refused to go into a game for the Niners and instead went to the locker room.  A friend sent an email comparing that situation to Antonio Brown who behaved similarly except that Brown made a show of his “retreat to the locker room” by removing his pads and walking slowly off the field without half of his uniform.  My friend’s point was that Brown never got “another chance” with an NFL team and since Brown was more of a standout at his position than Campbell is at his position, it might be very difficult for De’Vondre Campbell to find future NFL employment.

I think my friend is correct; Campbell is 31 years old, and this is his 9^th season as a linebacker in the league.  He was voted as an All-Pro in 2021 but over those 9 seasons he has only recorded 9.5 sacks.  Until last week, he was rather durable for a linebacker playing in 13 or more games in 6 of his 9 seasons.  As a defender you could describe him as “solid” and “productive”, but I doubt if you would climb to the level of “outstanding” or “great”.  And I think a player would have to be considered at least “outstanding” to be considered by another team after what has been described as Campbell’s behavior last Thursday night.

Google is really amazing.  In the recesses of my memory, I thought there had been another player who “retired” at halftime and just rode off into the sunset – – but I could not put a name or a situation to that memory.  So, I entered into Google:

• “NFL player retires halftime”

Indeed, my dim memory was correct; it happened.  In 2018, Vontae Davis was a CB with the Bills; he had signed a 1-year deal with the team in the offseason.  After giving up a TD pass in the first half of a game that season, Davis took himself out of the game, told coach Sean McDermott that he was “done” and then just disappeared from football.  Davis never tried to come back to the NFL and there is no indication that any teams reached out to him about a return.  So, there is another incident where a player left the game in medias res never to see the field again.  I suspect De’Vondre Campbell’s NFL career has come to a conclusion.

Moving on – – but staying on the general topic of “withdrawing” …  The Independence Bowl game was scheduled to be Marshall University versus Army.  The NCAA transfer portal managed to attract at least 25 players from the Marshall roster and those players were not going to play in that minor bowl game and risk injury there which would negatively impact on their attractiveness in that portal.  No problem, all the bowl organizers have to do is to invite another team and stage the game.  Except there is one little glitch; when Marshall recused itself from the game, there were no other “six-win teams” – – i.e. bowl eligible teams – – waiting for an invitation to the game.

So, the NCAA got to dig into its arcane rulebook to identify the team that had won 5 games in the season and among all the “5-win teams” it had the best record of having team members make academic progress toward a degree from the school.  Yes, the fantasy of the “student-athlete” lives on in 2024 alongside all the NIL money and the transfer portal which translates into universal free agency among players.

The replacement for Marshall will be La-Tech which finished the season with a 5-7 record.  It is good to know that the players on that team are making academic progress toward their degrees because the La-Tech schedule from last year is unimpressive at best.

• La Tech finished 4-4 in CUSA games.  The fifth win was against a Division 1-AA opponent.
• La Tech played 5 games against teams that were on my SHOE watch list at some point last season.  Their record in those 5 games was 3-2.
• Unimpressive …

Finally, for no obvious reason, I want to close today with this pronouncement from Sigmund Freud:

“The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Country music performer, Garth Brooks said:

“That smell of freshly cut grass makes me think of Friday night football in high school. The smell of popcorn and cigar smoke reminds me of the stadium.”

Here in Curmudgeon Central all I need is to check the calendar to make me think of Friday and the need to create another Football Friday, and so as Jackie Gleason would say, “And away we go…”

I shall begin with last week’s “Betting Bundle”.

• College spreads and totals were 3-0 – – Excellent!
• College Money Line Parlays were 2-0 for “Profit” of $575 – – Excellent!
• NFL spreads and totals were 1-1 – – Not good!
• NFL Money Line Parlays were 0-2 for “Loss” of $200 – – Bad!

The Linfield University Wildcats saw their season come to an end last week when they lost their Division III Playoff Game to Mary Hardin-Baylor by a score of 18-13.  Linfield finished the season with a 10-2 record and were undefeated in their Northwest Conference games.  Until next season …

 

College Football Commentary

 

You may recall that when Brian Kelly left Notre Dame to take the head coaching job at LSU, he said that he wanted a chance to win the national championship and that he might get to do that at LSU but not at Notre Dame.  Don’t look now but Notre Dame is in the CFP and LSU will be taking on Baylor on New Year’s Eve in something called the “Kinder’s Texas Bowl”.

And speaking of random bowl games, let me make a couple of comments about some of the minor ones:

• Salute to Veterans Bowl:  W. Michigan plays South Alabama.  Both teams are 6-6 this year meaning one of these bowl participants will end the year with a losing record.  Quite the Salute to Veterans …
• Boca Raton Bowl:  James Madison versus W. Kentucky.  These are both Sun Belt Conference teams [Yawn!] – – but at least they both have winning records…
• Cure Bowl:  Ohio takes on Jacksonville State; it’s the MAC versus CUSA.  Just what is that supposed to “Cure” … ?
• Myrtle Beach Bowl:  Coastal Carolina Chanticleers versus UTSA Roadrunners.  This should be the Avian Bowl, right …?
• Famous Idaho Potato bowl:  Northern Illinois Huskies play the Fresno State Bulldogs.  This should be the Canine Bowl, right … ?
• GameAbove Sports Bowl:  Pitt takes on Toledo from the MAC.  Pitt arrives at the game having lost 5 games in a row.
• First Responder Bowl:  North Texas versus Texas State.   Why isn’t this game being played in Texas?

And here are a couple of the bowl games not involved in the CFP that should be worth the trouble to tune in for:

• Birmingham Bowl 12/27/24:  Vandy versus Georgia Tech.  Both teams were surprisingly good in 2024.
• PopTarts Bowl 12/28/24:  Miami versus Iowa State.  Both teams had realistic shots at the CFP; this could be a very good game.
• Alamo Bowl 12/28/24:  Colorado versus BYU.  Both teams are in the Big 12 and both finished the season with winning records.
• ReliaQuest Bowl 12/31/24:  Michigan versus Alabama.  ‘Nuff said.

A couple of weeks ago, I touted RB Ashton Jeanty (Boise St.) here and suggested you check him out.  He is a Heisman finalist this year and has a realistic shot at breaking the college record for yards gained rushing in a season held by a guy you have probably heard of – – Barry Sanders.  I stand by my recommendation to watch Jeanty play and by my assessment that he is a significant talent.  Jeanty will next be on TV on New Year’s Eve playing against the winner of the Penn St./SMU CFP game.

With that as a basis, let me also call to your attention another college RB this year – – Cam Skattebo from Arizona St.  This guy is also very good and an exciting runner; against Iowa St. in the Big-12 championship game, he carried the ball 16 times for 170 yards and 2 TDs.  The next time Skattebo will take the field is on New Year’s Day against the winner of the Texas/Clemson CFP game.

UMass joined Division 1-A football competition in 2012; since that “elevation” the Minutemen have never won more than four games in a season and they have gone through four head coaches in those last 12 seasons.  Next up will be Joe Harasymiak who will lead UMass into the MAC starting in 2025. Goodluck to Coach Harasymiak and to the team in MAC competition next year.  I know I can’t wait for a showdown between UMass and Kent State on a random Tuesday night in November of next year …

Another college coaching move involves Dan Mullen whose career arc seems to be inverted:

• Mullen was head coach at Florida; that did not work out well.
• Mullen was head coach at Mississippi St.; that did not work out well.
• Mullen was just hired as head coach at UNLV.
• Connect the dots and the next job for Dan Mullen is …?  UMass?

In college games from last week:

Georgia 22  Texas 19 (OT):  It took Georgia more than the allotted 60 minutes of football to win the SEC Championship Game and they did it with their starting QB on the sidelines for the second half, but the Bulldogs pulled a rabbit out of a hat and won this game.  The Longhorns have lost twice in 2024 and both losses were to Georgia.

Clemson 34  SMU 31:  Clemson led this game 31-14 at the start of the fourth quarter and held off a big rally by SMU to become the ACC Champion for 2024.  SMU outgained Clemson by 125 yards for the game – – to no avail.

Oregon 45  Penn St. 37:  The Nittany Lions outgained Oregon for the game, but two INTs by the Ducks gave them just enough edge to post a victory here as Oregon is the Big-10 champion in its first year of Big-10 competition.

 Boise St. 21  UNLV 7:  Ashton Jeanty carried 32 times and gained 209 yards plus a TD in the game assuring Boise St. a slot in the CFP.  As it turns out, they also got a BYE week out of the deal.  The Boise St. defense was on display in the game; here are the drives by UNLV for the first three quarters of the game:

• 5 plays  11  yards  PUNT
• 3 plays  6 yards  PUNT
• 3 plays  minus-8 yards  PUNT
• 9 plays  50 yards  MISSED FIELD GOAL
• 3 plays  4  yards  PUNT
• 2 plays  0 yards  INT
• 7 plays  12 yards  PUNT
• 5 plays  81 yards  TURNOVER ON DOWNS
• 3 plays  2 yards  PUNT

Army 35  Tulane 14:  Tulane had – – supposedly – – the high-octane offense here and Army was more of a “ground and pound” sort of team.  Tulane gained 210 yards passing as compared to Army’s 17 yards passing (on 2 for 2 attempts by the way).  But the Cadets also managed to rush the ball for 335 yards in the game and forced 2 turnovers to win the game going away.

 

Games of Interest This Week:

 

Navy vs. Army – 6.5 (39):  The two teams combined to produce a record of 19-4 this season.  I have seen large parts of 3 Navy games this year and 2 Army games this year.  Army is the better team.  Would I lay points in a rivalry game like this? No thank you, but I must admit I am tempted to take the game to stay UNDER.  Nonetheless, I’ll just watch Army/Navy and enjoy the all-out effort by everyone on every play.

 

NFL Commentary

 

The NY Jets have been mathematically eliminated from the AFC Playoffs as a result of their loss to the Dolphins last week.  Given the return to availability of Aaron Rodgers and given the performance of the Jet’s defense in 2023, I did not foresee this state of affairs.  I did not expect the Jets to make a run to the Super Bowl this year, but I also did not expect them to be mathematically eliminated with 4 games left on the schedule and a record of 3-10-0.

Perhaps I should have let recent history be my guide to expectations for the Jets.  The last time the Jets made the AFC playoffs was in 2010.  Here are some milestones from that year to refresh your memory:

• The iPad was first offered to the public.
• The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico happened.
• Rex Ryan was the head coach of the NY Jets
• Instagram launched
• “Arab Spring” was a big thing
• Mark Sanchez was the starting QB for the NY Jets.
• This was two years BEFORE the Butt-Fumble.

It has been a long and frustrating time for Jets’ fans, and it does not look as if there is a bright light ahead in their tunnel.  I expect Aaron Rodgers to play well over the next four games because I do believe he wants to play again in 2025 – – but not for the Jets.  Therefore, he needs to put “good performance” on tape for other offensive coaches to see and evaluate – – and then hopefully lead them to offer him a contract.

My conclusion that Rodgers wants to play in 2025 derives from me practicing psychoanalysis without a license and at a distance – – never really particularly reliable.  In the vernacular, I think Aaron Rodgers is an “attention whore”; I think he derives great satisfaction from being the center of attention whereby he can offer up some of his well-beyond normal viewpoints on everything from vaccine effectiveness to ayahuasca value.  Now because I think that is the case, I think that Aaron Rodgers is smart enough to realize that unless he is a starting NFL QB, his purchase on that outré limb of the social tree is not very secure.  When he is merely “Aaron Rodgers – – Very Wealthy Former Athlete with Weirdo Views”, he is going to have far fewer opportunities to be a center of attention, and I think he does not relish that situation in his future.

So, as of today, the Jets have the 7^th pick in the Draft next year.  I think Rodgers can win the Jets one game and maybe two games in the remaining four games and that will not give the Jets nearly as valuable a Draft pick as they have now.  But Rodgers does not plan or want to be with the Jets in 2025 or beyond, so do not be surprised if he ups his game and “leads” the Jets to at least a 4-13-0 record if not a 5-12-0 record.

Maybe there is something in the water supply in NYC that makes football players prone to ineptitude.  As bad as a 3-10-0 record by the Jets may be, the other NY team – – the Giants – – are worse at 2-11-0 and the Giants do not have a QB on their roster who might – – potentially – – carry the team to a couple of wins.  Aaron Rodgers may be having the worst year of his career, but if you had to pick a NYC QB to win a key game, you would surely take Rodgers over Drew Lock or “Tommy Cutlets”.

I was looking ahead in the NFL schedule to decide what to say about the Jets for the rest of the year and ran across the fact that the Raiders and the Jags will face off in Las Vegas next week in a 4:30 PM time slot.  I want to go on record now without having spent the time and energy to look at the complete NFL card for next weekend and say that the Jags/Raiders game on December 22^nd 2024 will be the pre-emptive Dog-Breath Game of the Week.

One more note from my looking ahead at the rest of the NFL schedule …  The Pittsburgh Steelers are currently 10-3-0 and lead the AFC North.  The Steelers are a very good team, and they are benefiting from the reincarnation of Russell Wilson as their QB.  Having said all that positive stuff, the Steelers’ schedule from here to the end of the regular season is brutal; the schedule maker did the Steelers no favors down the stretch with this parade of opponents:

• 12/15/24  @ Philly   Eagles are 11-2-0 as of today.
• 12/21/24  @ Baltimore  Ravens are 8-5-0 as of today.
• 12/25/24  Vs. KC  Chiefs are 12-1-0 as of today.
• 1/5/25  Vs. Cincy  Bengals are 5-8-0 as of today.
• Combined, the next 4 Steelers’ opponents are 36-16-0.  Wow!

Here is an interesting stat I ran across; it says that the Cards and Kyler Murray are far more formidable early in the season than late in the season.  Make of this what you will:

• Cards are 22-16-1 when Murray starts a game for them in Week 8 or earlier.
• Cards are 12-28-0 when Murray starts a game for them in Week 9 or later.

The Miami Dolphins and Odell Beckham, Jr. have come to a mutual agreement and a parting of the ways; OBJ has been released.  This has not been a good season for the WR; he has appeared in 9 games this year with 9 receptions for 55 yards.

Here is a look at some of last week’s NFL games.

Bengals 27  Cowboys 20:  If you have been an NFL fan for a long enough period of time, you will understand that the Bengals won this game because of a second “Leon Lett Incident” in the late stages of the game.  If that reference does not mean anything to you, Google is your friend.

Vikes 42  Falcons 21:  At one point in this game, the score was tied 21-21.  Kirk Cousins’ “revenge game” did not play out well for the Falcons’ QB.

Jags 10  Titans 6:  The Titans turned the ball over on downs twice inside the Jags’ 10-yardline.  The Jags did not really “win” this game; they merely “avoided losing” this game.

Saints 14  Giants 11: A blocked field goas at the end of the game by the Saints prevented OT.  For those fans who were forced to watch this game as a “local game”, that must have been a blessing; no one would have wanted this game to go on beyond 60 minutes of regulation time.

Seahawks 30  Cards 18:  The Cards had a hot streak in mid-season but that appears to be over and done with.  The Seahawks and Rams look to be the class of the NFC West.

Rams 44  Bills 42:  The score does not indicate it, but both teams played decent defense in this game; the score reflects that both offenses were on fire all night long.  All Bills’ QB Josh Allen did was to throw for 3 TDs and rush for 3 more.  Not a bad day at the office …  And yet, it was not enough.  The Bills scored 6 TDs in the game and did not turn the ball over.  That leads to this statistical oddity:

• Since the NFL/AFL merger, teams scoring 6 TDs and managing never to turn the ball over in a game were 245-0.
• Now they are 245-1 …

Chiefs 19  Chargers 17:  This time, the Chiefs’ miracle ending was a chip shot field goal that “doinked” off the upright and dropped behind the crossbar as time expired.  Why not?

Lions 34  Packers 31:  The Lions were 7 for 15 in third-down conversions and 4 for 5 in fourth down conversions.  One of those fourth down conversions was in the final two minutes that set up the winning field goal in the game.

 

NFL Games This Week

 

            There are no more BYE Weeks in the NFL regular season; there will be a full slate of 16 games each weekend from here to the end of the season.  Many of the games will be in non-traditional time slots, but there will be sixteen of them every weekend.

Interestingly, “home field advantage” seems to have taken a week off in the NFL this week.  Seven of the fifteen remaining games for this weekend have the visiting team favored by 2.5 points (Packers) to 16 points (Ravens).

In last night’s action the Rams beat the Niners 12-6.  Yes, all the scores were field goals; neither endzone lost its virginity for the entirety of the game.  The Total Line for the game closed at 48.5 points; yes, there was bad weather in the first half, but people playing the UNDER were never worried.  The Rams’ hopes for the playoffs – – and even for the division championship of the NFC West – – remain alive.  The Niners are not mathematically eliminated but it would take an intervention by someone’s Fairy Godmother to get the Niners into this year’s playoffs.

According to Niner’s coach, Kyle Shanahan, LB, De’Vondre Campbell refused to into the game in the second half last night.  Instead of going onto the field as instructed, Campbell decided to take his game to the locker room.  According to Spotrac.com, Campbell signed a 1-year contract with the Niners last year; that contract may have reached termination last night.  This will not end well; Campbell also left the Packers with a bit of drama in the past.

Commanders – 7.5 at Saints (43.5):  The spread opened at 3.5 points and the Total Line opened at 47.5.  When folks began to realize that the Saints would be starting either Spencer Rattler or Jake Haener at QB for the game, both lines moved significantly.  Some local sports radio shows here have tried to play this up as a “Chase Young Revenge Game” for the Saints’ DE.  Any port in a storm is my reaction there.  The Commanders had their BYE Week last week, so they are “rested” and “ready to go”.  I would greatly prefer to play this game without that hook on top of the full TD spread, but as of this morning such is not the case.  Nonetheless, I’ll take the Commanders to win and cover even on the road; put that in the “Betting Bundle”.

Dolphins at Texans – 2.5 (47):  The Texans have a comfy 2-game lead over the Colts in the AFC South; the Dolphins cannot win the AFC East, but they still have a low-probability of being part of the AFC Playoffs.  The motivation edge here is clearly with the Dolphins.

Jets – 3.5 at Jags (40):  This game was ever so close to getting the Dog-Breath label for this week.  This is one of the games the Jets can/should win and when/if they do, it will hurt their Draft position come April 2025.  The Jags are a complete mess.  If QB is “the most important position”, then this game boils down to Aaron Rodgers versus Mac Jones.  Normally, I stay far away from games involving two bad teams, but I really do think the Jets have the edge here; so, I’ll take the Jets on the road and lay the points; put that in the “Betting Bundle”.

Bengals – 5 at Titans (46):  The Bengals finally found an opponent last week who could make a bigger blunder at a critical time than the Bengals had been doing for the season.  Was that a turning point for the Bengals?  The Titans faced a mediocre defense last week (Jags) and scored the grand total of 6 points; this is another severely flawed defense opposing the Titans’ offense.  Does that Titans’ unit have sufficient pride and sufficient talent to take advantage here?

Ravens – 16 at Giants (42.5): The spread opened at 12.5 points and then it was revealed that Drew Lock was in a “walking boot” and that “Tommy Cutlets” was getting the reps with the starting team during the week.  The Ravens are in a comfortable position with regard to making the playoffs; they still have a chance to win their division if for no other reason than the Steelers (current AFC North leader) has a very difficult schedule between now and January 5^th (see above).  I do not play NFL games with double-digit spreads; so, this one is off the board for me.  But I do think the Ravens will coast to a victory here.  For your information, the Ravens are mnus-1600 on the Money Line.

Chiefs – 4 at Browns (43):  The Chiefs are 12-1-0; the Browns are 3-10-0.  This short-priced spread reflects the reality that the Chiefs are 12-1-0 but they only have a point differential of 56 points.  By comparison, the Lions also are 12-1-0 but the Lions have a point differential of 183 points.  Given the way things have played out this year, expect the Browns’ QB, Jameis Winston to throw for at least 350 yards and also to throw a couple of really hurtful INTs allowing the Chiefs to prevail.  But by more than 4 points … ?  Here is a trend for those of you who follow such things:

• In their last 7 games, the Chiefs are 0-7 against the spread.

Cowboys at Panthers – 2.5 (43):  Can you believe that a team that went 2-15 last year is the favorite over “America’s Team” this week?  In terms of a battle between gigantic owners’ egos, this game has to be monumental.  The Panthers’ record is 3-10-0 but they have played some good teams very tough in the last several weeks.  I think the Panthers extinguish the Cowboys’ playoff hopes with a win in this game; I’ll take the Panthers to win and cover at home; put that in the “Betting Bundle”.

Steelers at Eagles – 5.5 (43):  I read somewhere that the Steelers have not won over the Eagles in Philly since 1965.  The Steelers were not very good in 1965; their record for the year was 2-12-0.  The 2025 iteration of the Steelers is much better than that.  Here is a betting stat to keep in mind for this game:

• The Steelers have been underdogs 5 times this season.
• The Steelers won all 5 of those games outright.

Bills at Lions – 2 (53.5):  This is the Game of the Week; it just might be a Super Bowl preview game.  As important as the Steelers/Eagles game is to both teams, this one is the standout game this week; the two teams combine to bring a record of 22-4-0 to the kickoff.  Both teams aspire to the BYE Week in the playoffs in their conference; for the Lions, it means winning to maintain the lead they have; for the Bills it means win or fall way behind the Chiefs with not a lot of time remaining.  The Total Line for this game opened at 51.5 points and has been inching upward all week long; I think this will be a shootout where two very good offenses exploit two good but not great defenses; I’ll take the game to go OVER; put that in the “Betting Bundle”.

Colts at Broncos – 4 (44):  As of now, the Broncos are a wild card team in the AFC Playoffs and the Colts are chasing them for that final playoff slot.  This game is must-win for the Colts, but I think that the Broncos’ defense is good enough to keep Colts’ QB Anthony Richardson in check.  So, can Colts’ RB, Jonathan Taylor win the day for Indy?  More importantly, can Anthony Richardson avoid doing something that assures a loss for the Colts?

Bucs at Chargers – 3 (45):  The Bucs have clawed their way back to the top of the NFC South and hold a 1-game lead over the Falcons who are road favorites this week.  The Chargers lost a heartbreaker to the Chiefs last week (see above) and really do not want to lose another and get deep into the muck and mire of wildcard playoff tiebreakers.

Pats at Cards – 6 (46.5):  This game – – like the Jets/Jags game got some thought as a Dog-Breath game – – but the Cards are still viable as division champs of the NFC West.  So, let it be sufficient to say that the Cards must win this game and should win it comfortably.  But do I trust Kyler Murray …?  The Pats had last week off to get ready for the season’s “home stretch”; the Cards lost their third game in a row last week.

(Sun Nite) Packers – 2.5 at Seahawks (45.5):  As of this morning, both teams are “in the playoffs”.  The Seahawks’ position is slightly more precarious; as of today, they are a half-game ahead of the Rams in their division; meanwhile, the Packers are comfortably positioned in the wildcard chase.  Motivation edge goes to the Seahawks at home.  Offensive firepower edge goes to the Packers on the road.

(Mon Nite early) Bears at Vikes – 7 (44):  I am sure the ESPN execs were happy to get MNF double headers during the regular season and they paid top-dollar for them.  So in this particular double header, this game is the better of the two by a lot – – even though the Bears have lost 7 games in a row after losing to the Commanders on that Hail Mary Miracle.

(Mon Nite late) Falcons – 4 at Raiders (44.5):  Here is the Dog-Breath Game of the Week.  The Falcons bring a 4-game losing streak to the game; the Raiders see that losing streak and raise it by an added 5 games.  It’s a shame there is no way for both teams to lose here to maintain the “tradition” they have created for themselves.  If the Falcons fall behind, is this where they turn to Michael Penix, Jr.?  Who will be the Raiders’ QB?  Aiden O’Connell with his bone bruise or Desmond Ridder who would seek to resurrect his career with a win here?

So let me review the “Betting Bundle”:

• Commanders – 7.5 over Saints
• Jets – 3.5 over Jags
• Panthers – 2.5 over Cowboys
• Bills/Lions OVER 53.5

And here are three Money Line Parlays

• Army @ minus-200
• Panthers @ minus-150     $100 wager to win $150

And …

• Bengals @ minus-230
• Commanders @ minus-370
• Vikes 2 minus-300     $100 wager to win $143

And a Money Line Parlay with “plus-money” on all three legs …

• Dolphins @ +135
• Steelers @ +200
• Bills @ +125     $100 wager to win $1,486

Finally, let me close with this from Vince Lombardi:

“If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Obviously, the biggest sports news overnight is that Bill Belichick and UNC have reached an agreement for him to be the head football coach in Chapel Hill.  Reports say that the contract is for 5 years at $10M per year.  Clearly, there are at least several million reasons why that job interested him.

Bill Belichick’s experience regarding collegiate football is limited to his comments made as this contract was announced:

“I am excited for the opportunity at UNC-Chapel Hill.  I grew up around college football with my Dad and treasured those times.  I have always wanted to coach in college and now I look forward to building the football program in Chapel Hill.”

Lots of folks have weighed in with their beliefs as to how this will all turn out.  I believe that this is the sort of social experiment that has no real precedent; therefore, I will admit from the outset that I have no idea how it will all turn out.  But I am going to be very interested to see how it progresses because:

• Bill Belichick is 72 years old.
• His NFL experience should translate to the practice field and the sidelines.
• His NFL experience does not include a heavy emphasis on recruiting.
• His fistful of Super Bowl rings might be a powerful player recruiting tool.
• His fistful of Super Bowl rings guarantees that he will have a great set of assistant coaches.
• His “dour disposition” might be a negative player recruiting tool.
• His age may be a negative recruiting tool with “teenage players”.
• His NFL experience does not involve every player on his team achieving free agency every year which is what the NCAA transfer portal provides.
• His NFL experience involved keeping one very wealthy man (Robert Kraft) happy; at UNC he will have to keep lots of very wealthy donors happy.

You get the idea here.  The best thing to do here is to sit back and pour yourself some coffee – – or an adult beverage if you prefer – – and see how all of this plays out.  I can think of only one situation that might be similar to this one.  In the 1990s, Bill Walsh had retired as the head coach of the Niners.  He took that job after a stint as the head coach at Stanford’ and after his retirement from the NFL, he returned to Stanford as the head coach for three seasons.

In Walsh’s first year back at Stanford, the Cardinal tied for first place in the PAC-10 conference and finished the year ranked #9 in the country.  The next two seasons were not nearly as successful; the combined record for those two seasons was 7-14-1.  That is awfully unstable footing from which to project the “fate” of the “UNC/Belichick Experiment”, but I don’t have anything better to offer.

Moving on …  This next item is a good news/bad news situation.

• The good news for the NBA is that they have a new media rights deal in place that will bring $76B to the league over an 11-year time span.
• The bad news – – for the networks – – is that NBA ratings are in the dumpster at the moment.

The NBA is currently in the midst of the NBA Cup tournament – – in case you had not noticed – – and the entire NBA Cup charade was created to generate interest in early-season NBA games.   Even so, ratings are down, and they are down significantly.  Consider:

• TV ratings for NBA Cup games are down 10% from last year’s NBA Cup games.
• TV ratings for NBA games on ESPN are down 28% as compared to 2023.  Moreover, those 2023 ratings were down almost 10% from the same time period in 2022.

When I saw those numbers reported, I wondered if they represented a decline in sports viewing generally in 2024.  They do not.

• NFL ratings are up this year over last year.
• MLB’s playoffs and World Series rating were up this year over last year.
• March Madness ratings were up in 2024 – – albeit only slightly.
• WNBA ratings – – riding the Caitlin Clark/Angel Reese wave – – almost doubled in 2024 as compared to 2023.

I don’t think the NBA ratings drop can be attributed to any tectonic shift in America’s consumption of sports on TV.  I think the NBA’s “problems” come down to four issues:

1. The regular season is too long, and it lacks suspense.
2. Too often as I watch an NBA game, it is painfully obvious that some of the players on the court do not care about the game they are taking part in.  The lack of “hustle” or “effort” or “intensity” is really off-putting.
3. There are not nearly enough “stars” for fans to attach themselves to; that is why you will rarely see a national telecast of Pistons/Trailblazers or Hornets/Jazz in 2024 or 2025.
4. Far too often, NBA games on TV devolve into 3-point shooting contests except there are more people on the court than in the original 3-point shooting contests invented for NBA All-Star week.

[Aside:  I went to last night’s NBA box scores.  Hawks/Knicks tried 73 3-point shots; Warriors/Rockets tried 65 3-point shots.  In a combined 96 minutes of basketball, those games involved 138 3-point shots.  From a viewing perspective that deserves a hearty “Ho-hum!”]

Finally, I alluded above to the possibility that Bill Belichick might have some difficulty “relating to” young recruits; so, let me close with these two quotes from Coach Belichick that illustrate that concern:

“I think it’s important for us, as a team, to know each other. Know our teammates and our coaches. To interact with them is more important than to be ‘liked’ by whoever on Chatrun.”

And …

“As you know, I’m not on SnapFace and all that, so I don’t really get those. I’m really just worried about getting our team ready to go.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

I have lived in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC for almost 55 years.  I grew up reading newspapers – – morning and evening editions – – and that tradition continues to this day except that there do not seem to be any evening newspapers any more.  Obviously, I have been a reader of the Washington Post for a long time now.   Back in the 1980s, the Post hired Thomas Boswell as a sports columnist and he plied his trade with the paper until his retirement in 2021.  Let me give you a synoptic view of Thomas Boswell:

• When he writes about any sport or any subject related to sports, he is merely “Very Good”.
• When he writes about baseball, you need to sit down, put your phone on silent, and block out any distractions while you read.  One does not merely read a Boswell on baseball piece, one experiences it.

I learned this morning – – by reading the Washington Post naturally – – that Thomas Boswell will be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer for his writings over the years.  It is an honor well-deserved.  Every once in a while, Boswell “comes out of retirement” for a cameo appearance in the Sports Section and coincidentally, he has a column in today’s Post concurrent with the announcement of his election to the Hall of Fame.  Here is a link to Boswell’s column today; I commend it to your reading.

Moving on …  When the NY Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins last weekend, it did two things:

1. It kept the Dolphins’ playoff hopes alive – – and on life support in the “NFL’s ICU”
2. It dropped the Jets’ record to 3-10 and eliminated them from the playoffs.

This year marks the 14^th consecutive season where the Jets will be watching the playoffs from the comfort of their living rooms, and it opened up speculation that the Jets might – – or even should – – tank the rest of the season to get the best possible draft position.   As of this morning, the Jets would draft 7^th next April.  If you roam around the sports websites this morning, you can find more than a few headlines with variants on the Jets saying “No tank you” to any such suggestions.

While it is easy to conclude that tanking a current season guaranteed to be a bad one at best is a good idea, I do not think tanking makes much sense and I do not think tanking as an intentional act can be done effectively.  For a team to tank a season – – lose on purpose to get a better draft slot – – requires several conscious choices:

• The losing must be done with a patina of effort on the surface.  If defenses use matador-like techniques instead of tackling, it will diminish the product itself and could bring down the “Wrath of the Commish” as the guardian of the “Integrity of the Game”.
• Players need to look like they are trying – – but not to play as well as they possibly can.
• Coaches must create game plans that are doomed as soon as the ink dries on the play sheets.
• GMs would need to appear to be laser-focused on drafting and scouting and nothing else.
• Owners need to be on board too.
• Team shills must be willing and able tools in the plan going forth on local sports radio programs and feeding positive notes to local writers to keep fans from turning away permanently.

Other than all that, tanking should be a piece of cake.  Except … what is in it for the various actors there to do what needs to be done?

Most contracts in the NFL are not guaranteed so players who do not play as well as they can will put “on film” a few games of diminished performance.  If/when they get cut from the team that is now “tanking” as the team “goes in a different direction”, those “bad games” will not make them valuable commodities to other teams.  Participating in a “tanking scheme” does not enhance individual player value; for them, it is a bad economic choice.

Coaches on a team that is bad enough even to consider tanking are surely on a hot seat if not odds-on favorites to be fired at the end of the “tanking season”.  Unless those coaches have decided that this miserable season is the end of their coaching careers – – hanging up the whistle so to speak – – they too have an economic motivation to stay away from a tanking endeavor.

GMs for a team bad enough to think about tanking will be asked about how such a roster came to be and with such questioning will come some jeopardy for their jobs.

The owner of a tanking team would need to have sufficient ego-strength to withstand the scorn and the invectives that would come his/her way.  In general, NFL owners have large egos but not necessarily ones that are robust in times of derision.

It seems to me that the only individuals who would take to their task(s) enthusiastically and effectively are the team shills.  Putting lipstick on a pig is the ultimate challenge for a group of folks in the PR and Communications Departments; so, making a “tanking team” seem like loveable losers and valiant warriors struggling against all odds would be an ultimate opportunity.

Clearly teams that look at the calendar in early December and see their record at 3-10 – – or even worse if you are on the Raiders or the Giants this year – – will approach each game with a diminished sense of urgency as compared to teams “on the bubble” for the playoffs.  But tanking is much more than diminished urgency; tanking involves intent to fail.  And I don’t see where many of the participants in such an action have a motivation to take part.

Finally, apropos of nothing, I will close with this thought from Hunter S. Thompson:

“I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports ………

 

 

Let me take you back in time to about 2021.  The KC Chiefs were dominating the AFC standings averaging more than 28 points per game.  The Offensive Coordinator was Eric Bienemy and when he was interviewed for some head coaching vacancies and did not get any of them, lots of sports pundits suggested racism was at play.  Bienemy returned to the Chiefs for the 2022 season for another dominant season where the team averaged over 29 points per game.  Once again, no head coaching offers came his way and he left the Chiefs – – ostensibly to get out from under the shadow of Andy Reid there – – and became the Commanders’ Offensive Coordinator in 2023.

Once again, columnists and TV talking heads danced around the “racism flagpole” asserting that such a lateral move to prove oneself would not happen to a white Offensive Coordinator.  Let me insert here for the sake of clarity:

• Racism exists in the United States in 2024.  Notwithstanding the twice-elected Barrack Obama as President of the United States, this is not a “post-racial society” that we live in today.  Eric Bienemy may indeed have been given higher hurdles to cross than white coaching candidates were given.  And, until we know the inner workings of the minds of the people conducting the interviews and making the hiring decisions, that can only be a conjecture.

Picking up the story … Eric Bienemy came to the Washington Commanders with great fanfare; all through the offseason and in training camp he was portrayed as a tough-love coach who held everyone accountable for every assignment – – whatever that means specifically.  And then the 2023 season began.

• In 2022, the Commanders were 8-8-1 and scored a total of 321 points (18.9 points per game).  It was the Commanders’ stingy defense in 2022 that produced that even record not the offense.
• In 2023 with Eric Bienemy directing the offense – – basically the same personnel as in 2022 – – the Commanders were 4-13-0 and scored a total of 329 points (19.4 points per game).  The Commanders’ defense fell apart and the defense was mainly responsible for the collapse in the record.

However, look at the offensive production.  The addition of Eric Bienemy and his “coach ‘em up” abilities increased point production by all of 8 points in 17 games.  The existence of racism in the United States has no bearing on those numbers.  The sports pundit class was silent at the end of the Commanders’ 2023 season on the subject of the mediocre team offense; the pundits were far more focused on the new team ownership group needing to clean house and get a new coach to create a new culture for the team – – and I do not recall any of them beating a drum for Eric Bienemy to be that new coach.

They say that a new broom sweeps clean, and Eric Bienemy lost his job in Washington with the arrival of new owners.  But he landed the job as the Offensive Coordinator at UCLA which was moving into the Big-10 Conference for 2024.  So how did that work out?

• In 2023 – – while Eric Bienemy toiled with the Commanders – – the UCLA Bruins averaged 26.5 points per game.  They ranked 70^th in the country in scoring in 2023; that is certainly not impressive.
• In 2024 – – with Eric Bienemy in charge – – the UCLA Bruins averaged 18.4 points per game.  They ranked 126^th in the country in scoring in 2024; that is certainly even less impressive than the 2023 performance.

Once again, the existence of racism in the United States has no bearing on those numbers.  And late last week, Eric Bienemy was fired by UCLA as their Offensive Coordinator.  His agent said that this was the plan all along and that Eric Bienemy had always expected to return to the NFL for the 2025 season.  We shall see; my guess is that he will do so and will likely do so as an Offensive Coordinator once again.

I have no quarrel with Eric Bienemy; my “issues” are with the sports punditry class which is now dead silent about how he has been held back by obvious racial motivations.  Might they not even suggest that perhaps – – just maybe – – they were wrong in alleging racism over the past several years?  Is there no room to suggest that perhaps Eric Bienemy’s laudable performances in KC with the Chiefs had a to do with the presence of Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce – – not to mention Andy Reid.

Like sports columnists and TV talking heads, I too am in the business of offering opinions on things related to sports.   And one of the guarantees that comes with being in the business of offering opinions is this:

• If you have not yet been wrong in any of your opinions, you soon will be.

For example, I offered my opinion that Tom Brady would not be a good color analyst because I did not think he ever looked comfortable behind a microphone.  I believe I was wrong in that assessment; Tom Brady has obviously worked on “learning the ropes” of sports broadcasting; he is significantly better now than he was back in September.  He is not John Madden as a color analyst – – and may never become that good – – but he has improved well beyond what I would have expected.  I was wrong.

Prior to the start of NFL seasons, I predict – – offer my opinion – – on how the regular season will turn out.  And then, in January or February, I go back and point out where I was right and where I was wrong.  It is usually slightly embarrassing to do so, but the fact that I continue to do so proves conclusively that it is not fatal to offer a wrong opinion.

I do not know why Eric Bienemy never got the call to be a head coach.  If indeed any hiring official denied him a chance as a head coach based even in a small part by his skin color, I would need to consult a Thesaurus to come up with a list of unflattering adjectives to describe that hiring official.  But I can never know that to be the case, and it is exactly that inability to know that to be the case which makes it improper to assert that it is or has been the case.

Sports organizations in the US have shown that they have a way of dealing with racism when it is known and proven to exist.  Marge Schott was forced to sell the Cincinnati Reds; Donald Sterling was forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers; George Preston Marshall was forced to integrate his team and organization.  Obvious racism existed in those cases and the sports world reacted to correct those situations.  If similarly obvious racism comes to exist related to Eric Bienemy’s coaching career, precedent says that the sports world will not allow it to continue to exist.  There is no benefit to be derived from sports pundits emulating “The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf”.

Finally, let me close today with these words from Professor Alan Dershowitz:

“I think that lawyers are terrible at admitting that they’re wrong. And not just admitting it; also realizing it. Most lawyers are very successful, and they think that because they’re making money and people think well of them, they must be doing everything right.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Where to start today …?  Contrary to normal behavior, Scott Boras had his premier free agent sign before Christmas this year making a big news splash but keeping the “drama” to a minimum length.  Juan Soto will be a Met for 15 years and a reported $765M.  There is an opt out clause in there and there are supposedly incentives that could kick up the total value so take that $765M figure with a grain of salt.  Soto is only 26 years old; he has been in the major leagues since he was 19 and his batting stats have been prodigious.

• At the age of 21, he led the National League in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging.
• At the age of 21 he led MLB in OPS posting a figure of 1.185.
• Normalized to a 162-game schedule, he projects to have an OPS of .953 with 32 HRs and 102 RBIs.

Two things about this signing stand out for me:

1. Soto was a Yankee last year and will be a Met next year – – and the year after that and …  I have trouble imagining that sort of situation obtaining during the George Steinbrenner Era; I doubt he would have been outbid for someone like Soto and I doubly doubt that he would have been outbid by the Mets.
2. This signing is another indicator that MLB would be well served by a salary cap and salary floor.  By that I do not mean that the Mets are now prohibitive favorites to win the World Series a half-dozen times in the next decade; what I mean is that this signing demonstrates why a bunch of teams either in “smaller markets” or with owners whose pockets are not nearly as deep as the Mets’ owner’s are have little to no chance to win even one World Series.

The NFL’s mantra about “On any given Sunday …” is more than a marketing slogan.  The NFL system allows for well-managed teams to win championships even if they are not in New York or Los Angeles or Chicago.  In fact, only two of the last sixteen Super Bowl winners came from those three population centers.

Moving on – – but staying with baseball …  The Baseball Hall of Fame Eras Committee voted to induct Dick Allen and Dave Parker into the Hall of Fame righting a wrong that has existed for about 30 years.  Allen and Parker were hitters that demanded attention every time they came to the plate because both players hit more than a couple of moonshots than may have taken a day or two to come down out of the sky.  Allen died in 2020 so he never got to see his plaque in the Hall of Fame; Parker is still alive and will experience that joy.

Next up …  The field for the first of the expanded CFPs has been set; the Selection Committee has spoken.  Remember, I said that the Committee was not charged with identifying the 12 best teams in the country; they were given parameters regarding conference champions and seeding rules that they had to follow.  And, in fact, I do not believe that they came up with the 12 best teams for the CFP field.

I do NOT think any team was “snubbed” nor do I think that there were any backroom shenanigans that shaped the field.  In my opinion, the Committee had to minimize the problems created by those constraints, but they also made a mistake or two.

• Looking at the four teams receiving BYEs for the first round of the tournament, I have no problem with either Oregon or Georgia on that list.  I do have a problem with both Boise St. and Arizona St. when I try to square “best teams” with “first-round BYEs”.
• I do not think that both Clemson and SMU belong in the field.  Clemson is the conference champ – – having beaten SMU in the Championship Game – – so they must be in the field by rule.
• Now, even if the Committee wants to have both Clemson and SMU in the field, how can they rank SMU ahead of Clemson when Clemson beat SMU about 24 hours before the CFP field was announced?

My opinions here have nothing to do with stats; I am applying strength of schedule and “the eyeball test” to form my rankings and using those two metrics, I believe:

• Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina are more worthy of being in the CFP than SMU or Indiana.
• Based on my “eyeball test”, I do not think either SMU or Indiana could have posted the records that they did had they played the same rigorous schedule that the three SEC teams did.

This expanded CFP will play its first game on December 20^th when Notre Dame and Indiana square off.  The final game will be on January 20, 2025.  The good news is that the National Champion will be decided on the field.

Finally, since today was about mistakes (by the CFP Selection Committee) and correcting a longstanding mistake (Dick Allen and Dave Parker getting into the Hall of Fame), let me close with these words from Cicero:

“Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

I have officially recovered from my food-induced coma from last week and I am ready to try a good old-fashioned Football Friday for this week.  This one will present the Brothel Defense Award for 2024, and it will set up the imaginary SHOE Tournament that would identify this year’s worst college football team.  So, buckle up while I get a couple of standard items out of the way.

Last weekend, the Linfield University Wildcats won their first game in the Division III college football tournament beating Texas Lutheran 65-3.  This week, the Wildcats stay home and play host to Mary Hardin-Baylor who will be making a trek of about 2000 miles from Belton, TX for the game.  The Crusaders bring an 8-3 record to the kickoff.  Go Wildcats!

My pre-season selection as a “sleeper team” for 2024 was Nebraska.  The Cornhuskers managed to make themselves bowl eligible by winning 6 games which is an improvement over the last 5 seasons – – but in truth, I thought they might win as many as 8 games.  No matter: Nebraska fans will get to travel to wherever their team gets to play one more game this year.  Go Huskers!

 

College Football Commentary:

 

As we come down to the weekend that will determine conference champions in college football, I want to start by identifying teams with laudatory records:

• Undefeated in 2024:
  • Oregon.  That’s the list
• One Loss in 2024:
  • Army
  • Boise St.
  • Indiana
  • Notre Dame
  • Penn St.
  • SMU
  • Texas

Barring something really weird going down this weekend, I cannot see any scenario where both Boise St. and Army make the CFP.  I can envision ways that neither one makes the playoffs, but not any way for them both to get in.  Here is a link to an ESPN.com article that will give you the latest CFP Rankings by the Selection Committee so you can see how the committee sees the college football landscape prior to this championship weekend.

Two teams ranked very highly – – Penn St. at #3 and Notre Dame at #4 – – are question marks in my mind.  Neither team played a difficult schedule and both teams looked good-but-not-more-than-that too often for me to think they are as good as those rankings indicate.  But I need not worry about that now because the CFP will determine the national champion – – and sort of give us a better perspective on the rankings via the eyeball test – – on the field and on TV.

For me, the much more interesting aspect of the CFP is down at the cut line for invitations.  Based on the rankings alone Miami would be in the playoffs while Ole Miss and South Carolina would be out.  Having seen all three of those teams this year, I think Miami is the weakest of the bunch – – but that is just me and I don’t have a vote.

Let me look at a few of the key game results from last weekend.

Michigan 13  Ohio St. 10:  The Buckeyes were 21-point favorites in this game and – to use a horseracing term – – spit the bit.  Michigan will go to a minor bowl game with the win; Ohio St. will sit out the Big-10 Championship Game as a result of the loss.  There are some in Columbus who want Ryan Day to leave town and for the Buckeyes to get a new coach.  Day’s overall record at Ohio St is 66-10 which is fine – – except – – his record against Michigan is only 1-4.

S Carolina 17  Clemson 14:  Both teams are now 9-3.  That loss would certainly have left Clemson out of consideration for the CFP – – except Miami lost as well last weekend and that puts Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.  A win there gives them a guaranteed slot; a loss will send them to a minor bowl game.  Do not sleep on South Carolina:  they have three losses in 2024 but two of the losses were to Alabama (by 2 points) and to LSU (by 3 points).  The Gamecocks played a difficult schedule and played it well.

Syracuse 42  Miami 38:  Speaking of the ACC Championship Game, this loss to Syracuse took Miami out of that picture.  Two weeks ago, Miami was ranked as the #6 team by the CFP Committee; this week they dropped to #12 which is the lowest slot admissible.  Miami led 21-0 at one point in this game and still managed to lose in the end.

Notre Dame 49  USC 35:  Note the margin of victory here is 2 TDs.  The Irish got two Pick-Six scores in the 4^th quarter of the game. One was for 100 yards and the other was for 99 yards – – in the same quarter of the same game.  USC is not a great team despite its history in college football and that is what it took for Notre Dame to win the game.  As I said, the Irish are good this year; but I am not ready to label them as dominant or fearsome or anything like that.  Here are the “best teams” Notre Dame has beaten this season:

• Texas A&M – – above average team
• Georgia Tech – – above average team
• USC – – average team.

Texas 17, Texas A&M 7: The Longhorns are now 11-1 and will take on Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.   That one loss for Texas came at the hands of Georgia back in mid-October; the game was in Austin and Georgia won by 15 points.  It should be a great rematch.  In the game against Texas A&M, the Longhorns dominated the stat sheet outgaining the Aggies by just over 200 yards for the day.  Normally, such a disparity in offense leads to a much bigger margin of victory than 10 points.  Texas took a 17-0 lead with about 6 minutes to play in the second quarter.  After that score, here are the Texas possessions for the rest of the game:

• 6 plays 28 yards Missed Field Goal
• 5 plays 32 yards PUNT
• 11 plays 78 yards INT
• 12 plays 64 yards LOST FUMBLE
• 5 plays 27 yards BLOCKED PUNT
• 6 plays 21 yards PUNT
• 3 plays minus-3 yards End of Game

Indiana 66 Purdue 0:  Indiana made sure that they did not disappear from the sight of the CFP Committee with this dominant performance.  Make no mistake, Purdue is a bad football team [Foreshadowing here: you will see them in the SHOE Tournament field.] but what Indiana did to them last week is embarrassing.

• Purdue Total Offense = 67 yards
• Indiana Total Offense = 582 yards
• Purdue was 0 for 11 in third-down situations
• Purdue averaged only 1.5 yards per offensive play.

BC 34  Pitt 23:  I put this here because Pitt started out the season winning its first 7 games.  This loss was the fifth loss in a row for the Panthers.  Odd …

Colorado 52  Oklahoma St. 0:  In preseason polls, Oklahoma St. was projected to be at the top of the Big-12 standings and a participant in the conference championship game.  Not quite … The Cowboys’ overall record for 2024 was 3-9 and their conference record was 0-9.

Georgia 44  Georgia Tech 42:  It took 8 overtime periods to settle this one.  Tech dominated the stat sheet outgaining the Bulldogs by149 yards, but Georgia came out on top in this big rivalry game.

FAU 63  Tulsa 16:  Both teams are 3-9 for the season; this was not a game of importance.  The score at halftime was 42-9.  Tulsa’s “defense” gave up 362 yards rushing (13.4 yards per carry) and 656 yards of Total Offense – – to a team that had only won 2 games at kickoff time and was on the SHOE Watchlist.

And now the time has come to identify the college football Brothel Defense Award for 2024.  This “Award” celebrates the team defense that allowed the most scoring for the season; it was easy to score on just as it is easy to score in a brothel.  And the “winner” of this “award” is:

• Kent State University which gave up 44.1 points per game.

Before getting to the college games this weekend, let me identify the 8 teams that I would put in the SHOE Tournament for this year should such a tournament actually exist.

• Seed #1 Kent State:  They are the only winless team in Division 1- A college football this year and they are the winner of the Brothel Defense Award.  ‘Nuff said.
• Seed #2 Purdue:  Their record is 1-11; that win was back in August over Division 1-AA Indiana St.
• Seed #3 Southern Mississippi:  Their record is 1-11; that win was in September over Division 1-AA SE Louisiana.  And … all eleven losses were by double-digits.
• Seed #4 UMass:  Their record is 2-10 which sounds better than 1-11 except that both of those wins were over Division 1-AA schools.
• Seed #5 Tulsa:  Their record is 3-9 but just take a look at the egg they laid last weekend against FAU (see above) for why they belong here.
• Seed #6 Florida St.:  Their record is 2-10 but the Seminoles may not have been that good.  One win was over Division 1-AA Charleston Southern which finished 1-11 against Division 1-AA competition.  Yikes!
• Seed #7 Temple:  Their record is 3-9 but they have been outplayed too often to be considered clear of this potential ignominy.
• Seed #8 Oklahoma St.: Their record is 3-9 but their underperformance of expectations needs to be recognized by their placement here.

[Aside:  If you expected to see Kennesaw St. on this list with their 2-10 record, I left them out because this is their first year in Division 1-A and so they get a pass … just once.]

 

This Week’s Games:

 

(Fri Nite) Tulane – 4.5 vs, Army (45.5):  This is the American Conference Championship Game.  Army’s only loss was to Notre Dame; Tulane has lost 3 times – – to Kansas St., Oklahoma and Memphis.  When Tulane played Navy, the Green Wave won 35-0.

(Fri Nite) UNLV vs. Boise St. (58.5):  This is the Mountain West Championship Game.  If Boise St. wins here they are pretty much guaranteed a spot in the CFP; if they lose, things could get exciting.  This is a rematch from late October; back then, Boise St, went to Las Vegas and beat the Rebels 29-24.  UNLV has not lost since that game.  This game will be on the “Smurf Turf” in Boise and fortunately the weather will merely be “cold” and not “unfit for human habitation” as could be the case in early December.  Nevertheless, I think the weather will not be conducive to explosive offensive football, so I’ll take the game to stay UNDER; put that in the Betting Bundle.

Iowa St. vs. Arizona St. – 2 (50):  This is the Big-12 Championship Game.  Both teams are 10-2 for the season; they did not meet earlier in this season.  I have exactly no sense how this game will unfold; neither team has grabbed my attention so far in 2024.

Ohio vs Miami (OH) – 2 (43):  This is the MAC Championship Game.  In terms of timing, this game is on at the same time as the Iowa St./Arizona St. game.  Not exactly a compelling reason to be in front of my TV early in the afternoon on Saturday…

Georgia vs Texas – 3 (50):  This is the SEC Championship Game, and it is my College Football Game of the Week.  Texas lost once this year – – at home by 15 points to Georgia.  This is a big-time rematch.  I don’t know why the oddsmakers have Texas favored here because I think this is a “pick ’em game” so I’ll take those 3 points along with the Bulldogs; put that in the Betting Bundle.

Marshall vs. La-Lafayette – 5.5 (58):  This is the Sun Belt Championship Game.  Marshall is 9-3 this year and has won 6 games in a row; La-Lafayette is 10-2 this year.  I have now exhausted my insight into this contest…

Clemson vs, SMU – 3 (55.5):  This is the ACC Championship Game.  The winner gets into the CFP and the loser does not.  Clemson lost a close game to bitter rival South Carolina last week by a field goal; SMU is 11-1 on the season but they never played a team nearly as good as South Carolina.  Again, I think this is a “pick ‘em game”; and so once again, I will take the Tigers plus the points; put that in the Betting Bundle.

Penn St. vs. Oregon – 3.5 (50.5):  This is the Big-10 Championship Game; I thought about labeling this as the College Game of the Week for more than a couple of minutes.  I can see this game going down to the final possession and being decided by a play or two in the final three or four minutes.  I can also see this game as an Oregon blow-out.  What I cannot see is Penn St. running Oregon out of the building.  I’ll just sit back and watch this one and look for players who might be interesting draft picks for the NFL next Spring.

 

NFL Commentary:

 

The NFL regular season race has hit the quarter pole and teams in the running for playoff slots need to kick it up a notch [Hat Tip to Emeril Lagasse] in the final month of the regular season.  So let me look at the playoff picture as it stands now.  In the American Conference:

• The Bills have clinched the AFC East, and the Chiefs have clinched a playoff spot – – but not their division title as of now.
• The “last team in” for the AFC playoffs might get in with a 9-8 record but a 10-7 record is much more likely to work for a team.  So, the Steelers, Texans, Chargers and Ravens all appear to be in good position.  The Steelers are 9-3 today; the other three teams have 8 wins apiece.
• If that situation continues to hold, that means there is one playoff slot left for the rest of the conference.  AND according to NFL.com, only the Raiders, the Pats and the Jags have been mathematically eliminated.
• My pick as of today for that last playoff spot would be the Broncos with the Colts being the team chasing the Broncos.

Meanwhile, over in the National Conference:

• Lots of stuff is up in the air this morning; four teams are in a grouping that stands out from the rest of the conference.  The Lions have 12 wins; the Eagles and Vikes each have 10 wins, and the Packers have 9 wins as of today.  The Lions have not clinched their division as of today, but last night’s win over the Packers guarantees that the Lions will take part in the NFC playoffs.  The Eagles showed us last year that a December Melt-Down is a real thing; nonetheless, it would take some sort of cataclysmic collapse on the part of those 4 teams to miss the playoffs this year.  Count all three of the other teams here in …
• In the NFC West, two games separate the top team – – Seahawks – – from the last place team – – Niners.  The division winner gets in of course but it might be difficult to find a way to get more than one team from the NFC West into the playoffs.  I doubt the Niners can rally to win the division this year; (see below) having said that, I really have no idea which of the other three teams will come out on top in this division.
• In the NFC South, the Bucs and the Falcons are tied at the top of the division with 6-6 records.  Again, the division winner will get in, but it is not clear how another team sneaks in from that division.  The remaining schedule for the Bucs is awfully soft so I guess I like the Bucs to win that division again this year.
• So, with the four teams identified at the top here plus the two division winners in those tight divisional races, that leaves one playoff slot in the NFC up for grabs.  Only the Giants in the NFC have been mathematically eliminated and so the race is on.  My pick is the Commanders to fill that slot.

Here are some comments on games from last weekend:

Broncos 41  Browns 32:  This game was a perfect example of what I call:

• The Jameis Winston Experience

Winston threw for 475 yards and the Browns racked up 552 yards on offense.  Winston threw for 4 TDs and racked up fantasy points galore.  How great is that?  Winston also threw 3 INTs in the game including 2 Pick-Sixes – – one of them coming with 2 minutes left in the game and the Browns trailing by only 2 points.

Eagles 24  Ravens 19:  It would be simplistic to try to pin this loss on Ravens’ kicker Justin Tucker who missed two field goas and an extra point in the game decided by only 5 points.  Rather, the game was won by the Eagles’ defense which held Derrick Henry to only 82 yards rushing and which sacked Lamar Jackson 3 times.  Oh, by the way, having Saquon Barkley rush for 107 yards and a TD did not hurt either.

Commanders 42  Titans 18:  Forget the stats; this game was as lopsided as the score indicates.  The Titans were outplayed at all positions and for the entirety of the game.  In addition, the Titans committed 11 penalties in the first half of the game – – in the first half!  That may have been the best showing by the Commanders so far in 2024.

Vikes 23  Cards 22:  The Vikes pulled another rabbit out of a hat and scored with about a minute and a half left in the game to beat a Cards’ team that outgained the Vikes by more than 130 yards for the game.

Steelers 44  Bengals 38:  When you think of AFC North games, you usually picture a game where defense and field position are key strategic elements and getting the total score up around 50 points is not commonplace.  And then there is this game …Russell Wilson continued his march toward “Comeback Player of the Year” throwing for 414 yards and 3 TDs.  The Steelers‘ defense does not give up 30+ points very often, but the Bengals made the Steelers sweat a bit on the way to this win.  Here is a stat I ran across:

• Joe Burrow has thrown for 300+ yards and 3 TDs in each of his last 3 games.
• The Bengals have lost all three of those games.

Seahawks 26  Jets 21:  It did not happen at the end of the game, but the margin of victory here was provided by Seahawks’ DT Leonard Williams – – late of the Jets – – who intercepted an Aaron Rodgers pass and went “rumblin’ and stumblin’ all the way” for a Pick Six event.  [Hat tip to Chris Berman there.]

Bucs 26  Panthers 23 (OT):  It took some last-minute heroics from Baker Mayfield to send the game to OT allowing the Bucs to win their 6^th game of the year which ties them with the Falcons atop the NFC South.

Chargers 17  Falcons 13:  The Falcons sacked Justin Herbert 5 times in the game and lost; that usually does not happen.  However, Falcons’ QB, Kirk Cousins threw 4 INTs in the game; usually when that happens the team loses – – as it did here.

Bills 38  Niners 10:  December in Buffalo in an outdoor stadium; the weather made the game fun in the sense that you don’t get to see many games like that in a season.  My takeaway from the game is that the Niners are a team in trouble; they have too many injuries to too many of their best players.

• Brandon Aiyuk
• Nick Bosa
• Dre Greenlaw
• Jordan Mason
• Christian McCaffrey
• Trent Williams

Everyone will remember this game for the “hook and ladder play” with Amari Cooper and Josh Allen, but I think the status of the Niners’ roster revealing itself so vividly is the most important thing to take away from the game.

 

Games This Week:

 

Six teams will get to rest this weekend as NFL BYE Weeks come to a close:

1. Broncos:  I doubt that Bo Nix will win Offensive Rookie of the Year, but I do think he is the biggest surprise of the 2024 Draft Class.  I think he is definitely a keeper.
2. Colts:  If my guess is correct that it will take 10 wins to make the playoffs in the AFC, then the Colts need to win out from here.
3. Commanders:  They are in a good place; they are a young team; they need to avoid reading the kudos being sent their way and especially to avoid believing that they are as good as their fanboys make them out to be.
4. Pats:  They are 3-10; they are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs; there is a lot of rebuilding left to be done with that squad
5. Ravens:  As this team does some self-analysis, they really need to figure out how a team as talented as they are can have lost 5 games this season.
6. Texans:  CJ Stroud is suffering a mild sophomore slump; nonetheless, the Texans have a two-game lead in the AFC South division, and they need to maintain their focus down the stretch.

The Lions took care of business last night beating the Packers 34-31 on a last-second field goal.  There was an unusual stat produced in the game; the Lions converted 4 of 5 fourth-down situations.  That is unusual in two ways:

• It is unusual for a team to try for a first down on 4^th down 5 times in a game.
• It is unusual for the team doing so to win the game.  Normally, that sort of stat would indicate the team was grasping at straws to stay in a game.

Do not misinterpret; the Lions did not win this game by a fluke.  The Lions outgained the Packers by about 100 yards and held the ball for 36 minutes in the game.

Falcons at Vikes – 5.5 (45.5):  I guess you can call this a “Homecoming Game” for Kirk Cousins after all his time wearing purple jerseys.  He must play better than he did last week; four INTs this week against the Vikes would be a disaster.

Saints – 4.5 at Giants (41):  At first glance, I thought this would be the Dog-Breath Game of the Week but not quite.  The Giants are awful no matter who they trot out at QB and the Saints are only a little better.  The Giants do have one distinctive feature about them as of today:

• They are the only team in the NFL to be winless at home.
• They are 0-6-0 in front of their home fans.

Do your best to ignore this game.

Jags at Titans – 3.5 (39.5):  This is the Dog-Breath Game of the Week.  These are two miserable teams where the game will likely come down to which team makes the last bad play.  Speaking of making bad plays, the Jags are the only team in the league that allows 400+ yards per game to the opponent.  Ugh!  The acronym for this game is “AYE” – – Avert Your Eyes.

Raiders at Bucs – 7 (46):  This is the second road game in a row for the Raiders; that is never an easy thing for a team and especially not for a less-than-mediocre team.  Nevertheless, the Bucs tend to play to the level of their opponent and this game could be closer than you might expect.  I admit I was tempted to take the Raiders with the points here, but I just don’t trust Aiden O’ Connell against a blitz-happy Bucs’ defense.

Browns at Steelers – 7 (43.5):  Both teams played high-scoring games last week (see above).  I doubt that is going to happen again. However, a final score of 24-20 would put this game OVER and I do not think that is an outrageous expectation; I like the OVER here; put it in the “Betting Bundle”.

Panthers at Eagles – 13 (46):  This is a Sandwich Game for the Eagles.  Be very afraid…  The Eagles had a big win over the Ravens last week; next week they have the Steelers coming to pay a visit; between those tough games come the “lowly Panthers”.  Bryce Young has been playing well and the Panthers have not been the patsies they had been for the first half of the year.

Jets at Dolphins – 5.5 (44.5):  Neither team is “eliminated” from the playoffs yet, but neither one is likely to be playing beyond the first weekend in January.  The Dolphins have looked a lot better since Tua came back to the lineup, but even that is not enough to make it a fearsome opponent.  The Jets need to find a latter-day Moses to lead them out of the desert.  Here is my simple-minded assessment of this game:

• The Dolphins play poorly in cold-weather games; this game is in Miami; it will not be cold.
• The Jets play poorly in cold-weather, hot-weather or lovely-weather games.

Based on that meteorological analysis, I like the Dolphins at home to win and cover; put that in the “Betting Bundle”.

Seahawks at Cards – 2.5 (44):  This is an important NFC West division game so that makes it the Game of the Week.  The Seahawks beat the Cards in Seattle putting them atop the division standings; the Cards need this one to avoid falling two games behind the Seahawks – – and losing the tiebreaker there – – with only four games to go after this week.

Bills – 3 at Rams (49):  You might expect a small letdown by the Bills after clinching the AFC East last weekend.  However, they are a game behind the Chiefs in the race for the BYE Week and homefield throughout the playoffs.  That should keep the team motivated.

Bears at Niners – 4 (44):  The Niners are a M*A*S*H unit (see above); the Bears’ most common trait is to invent a way to lose a game at the very end.  Who knows which malady will prevail here?

(Sun Nite) Chargers at Chiefs – 4 (43):  This is my runner-up for Game of the Week because it will be interesting to see if the Chiefs can continue to win games by a razor thin margin with miraculous endings.  The Chargers need this game more than the Chiefs need it – – although the Chiefs do want to stay ahead of the Bills for that BYE Week in the playoffs.

(Mon Nite) Bengals – 5.5 at Cowboys (49):  Here we have two bad defenses [I am trying to be ever so polite here] and two competent offenses.  So, why is the Total Line at 49 and not at 55?  Another point: I think that line is fat.  So, give me the Cowboys plus the points AND give me the game to go OVER; put both in the “Betting Bundle”.

Let me review this week’s “Betting Bundle”:

1. UNLV/Boise St. UNDER 58.5
2. Georgia +3 against Texas
3. Clemson +3 against SMU
4. Browns/Steelers OVER 43.5
5. Dolphins – 5.5 over Jets
6. Cowboys +5.5 against Bengals
7. Cowboys/Bengals OVER 49

[Aside: With seven entries, this is more like a “Speculative Sack” than a mere “Betting Bundle”.]

But wait; there’s more.  Here are four Money Line Parlays just for fun:

• Boise St. @ minus-200
• Oregon @ minus-170     $100 wager to win $139

And …

• Boise St @ minus-200
• Oregon @ minus-170
• Georgia @ +125     $100 wager to win $436

And …

• Cowboys @ +205
• Dolphins @ – 240     $100 wager to win $332

And …

• Saints @ minus-200
• Bills @ minus-180
• Bears @ +165   $100 wager to win $518

Finally, today’s “last words” come from Vince Lombardi:

“If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Today shapes up to be a potpourri of topics across a variety of sports.  Actually, it is a situation that allows me to use a word that I will never forget from studying vocabulary lists to prep for the SATs back in my high school days – – right before the time of the cave paintings.  That word is “salmagundi”, and it is a mixture of random ingredients.  Yup, that is what today looks to be …

It was only about a month ago that the Baltimore Ravens pulled off what appeared at the time to be a “player heist”.  They acquired Diontae Johnson from the Panthers plus a 6^th round pick from the Panthers in exchange for a 5^th round pick from the Ravens.  Given where the teams stood – – and stand – – in the standings, that is almost a pick swap, and the Ravens got a starting WR as the payment for a pick swap.  I said at the time that this had to be a great deal for the Ravens unless the trade indicated that Johnson was such a pain in the ass in the locker room that the Panthers would be glad to have gotten anything in return for him.

Well, maybe the Panthers were onto something …  The Ravens have suspended Johnson as of yesterday for conduct detrimental to the team and at least part of that detrimental conduct involved Johnson’s refusal to go into the game against the Eagles last weekend.  In that game, Ravens’ wideout, Rashod Bateman, suffered an injury and Johnson allegedly refused to take his place on the offense.  Before his days in Carolina, Johnson spent five years with the Steelers where he was described variously as “mercurial” and “temperamental.“ Johnson’s contract is up at the end of the 2024 regular season; this suspension based on the team’s assertion that he refused to enter a game is not something that will make GMs around the league fight to see who can sign him first.

Moving on …  Mack Brown is out as the head football coach at UNC; at age 73, he will probably have a tough time getting another Division 1-A college job should he even want one.  This is his second stint as the coach in Chapel Hill.  From 1988 through 1997, Brown coached the Tar Heels and led the team to 5 bowl games.  He returned to Chapel Hill in 2019 and has had the Tar Heels bowl eligible in every season of his regime.

A lot of folks say that the college football game has passed Brown by.  I am not smart enough to say such a thing with conviction but here is something I am willing to say:

• UNC knows what it takes in order to be a powerhouse basketball team on the national level.  So, why is UNC not similarly a top-shelf football school that is dominating in a middling football conference?

Switching gears …  Do you realize that the NBA regular season is about 25% in the books?  Have you gotten into following the NBA on something more than a weekly basis yet?  From my perspective, just about everything that has happened since the start of the regular season on 22 October as “Glorified Spring Training” where the games count in the standings, but the fan interest is absent.

OK, maybe you can accuse me of my deficient NBA interest to the fact that my “local team” – – the Washington Wizards – – is sporting a record of 2-17 and are being outscored by an average of just under 16 points per game.  Actually, the Wizards are interesting to watch if you are willing to watch a team that you know from the outset is always outmanned and will only win by accident.

The Wizards have two young players from France on the roster who make plenty of mistakes and who also show flashes of potential competency.  Watching those two guys – – and paying only passing attention to everyone else – – can be entertaining.

1. Bilal Coulibaly is in his second year in the NBA; he is 20 years old.  He plays perimeter defense very well and some nights he exhibits an offensive game while on other nights he is encouraged to shoot by his defending opponent.  His progress from last year is noticeable; he should become a good-not-great NBA player with a long career ahead of him.
2. Alex Sarr was the #2 overall pick in the Draft this year.  He is 19 years old and is 7 feet tall.  His offensive game is more than rough around the edges; his defensive game is often well better than “merely good”.

Let me be clear.  The Wizards are a bad basketball team, and they are going to have a miserable record in this regular season.  However, those two young players could become valuable component pieces to a pretty good team if a proper blend of offensive talent were blended with their skills.  The entertainment value for these two “prodigies” is going to wear thin without some added help; that is the burden borne by the Wizards’ front office today.

Next up …  Manchester City has been a powerhouse in the EPL over the last 7 seasons finishing first 6 times and second the other time.  Yes, there are charges that the team has run roughshod over the financial rules there which function sort of like a salary cap and which I am not remotely qualified to interpret here.  Nevertheless, fans of Man City have had a heady run since the 2017/1018 season.  Not quite so in this season.

Man City has played 14 games this season and its record is 8 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses.  That gives them 26 points and puts them 5^th in the Table, a full 9 points behind Liverpool, which leads the league having won 11 of its 14 matches.  With the EPL season less than half over, it is far too early to write off the defending champs – – but maybe this is a “consolidation year” for the team and not another dominant one?

Staying with the subject of English soccer, the husband of a dear friend of mine lives and dies with the fortunes of the Sunderland Association Football Club.  Sunderland is in the English Championship – – one step down from the Premier League – – and as of this morning Sunderland is in 4^th place in the Table for the Championship.  Sunderland is 2 points behind third-place Leeds United and 3 points ahead of Middlesbrough and Watford who are chasing them.  The Championship schedule involves 46 games and only 18 have been played – – so it is too early to think that Sunderland might just have a shot at promotion back to the Premier League.  But for my friend’s husband, hope springs eternal…

Finally, since today was like a sports stew in terms of elements, let me close with the observation by the essayist Edward Abbey:

“Society is like a stew. If you don’t stir it up every once in a while, then a layer of scum floats to the top.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

The latest report from Las Vegas is that the new stadium to be constructed there as the home of the MLB A’s will cost more than previously estimated.  The deal was that the public funding was fixed at $380M and A’s ownership was responsible for the rest – – including any overruns.  Well, you can call what just happened an “overrun” or a “change in scope” or whatever contractual phraseology suits your fancy, but the total cost is now estimated at $1.75B as opposed to the previous estimate of $1.5B.   Written that way, the change seems to be not such a big deal; however, the change in costs is $250M and that is a whole lot of cheese.

In explaining the new cost basis, the team said that they changed the “audio and video components” of the new stadium to upgrade them to a level whereby concerts can take place in the new facility.  Increasing construction costs were also part of the revamped estimate.  The message here is that the cost of the new facility has risen from the original figure of $1.4B to $1.5B and now to $1.75B which is a 25% increase over the original estimate – – and they have not put a shovel in the ground yet.

The stadium being planned will have a roof and it will seat 33,000 folks for baseball.  Reports say that the A’s have already spent $40M on the planning process for the building and that there may be another $60M in planning and pre-construction costs to come.  The plans call for the stadium to be ready for opening day in the 2028 MLB season.  Remember, no shovels have hit the dirt as of this morning …

Moving on …  One of the standard happenings in the baseball off season is the consideration given to the annual Hall of Fame voting event.  Just to review:

• Players first get on the ballot five years after retirement providing, they played 10 seasons in MLB.
• Players stay on the ballot for ten years providing they have not either been elected to the Hall of Fame or they receive a minimum of 5% of the votes by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
• Players are elected to the Hall of Fame if they receive 75% or more of the votes cast by the baseball writers in any given year.

There are fourteen players who will be up for election to the Hall of Fame for the first time this year:

1. Carlos González
2. Curtis Granderson
3. Félix Hernández
4. Adam Jones
5. Ian Kinsler
6. Russell Martin
7. Brian McCann
8. Dustin Pedroia
9. Hanley Ramírez
10. Fernando Rodney
11. CC Sabathia
12. Ichiro Suzuki
13. Troy Tulowitzki
14. Ben Zobrist.

Obviously from comments I have made over the years in these rants, I think Ichiro should be a shoo-in as a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee.  He did not arrive in MLB until he was 27 years old, and he still managed to get 3,089 hits at the MLB level.

When I look at the list of newly eligible players for other first-ballot possibilities, I do not see anyone else who I would consider a shoo-in for first ballot induction, but I would not be surprised if CC Sabathia and Felix Hernandez got significant support.

In addition to the voting by writers, there are Era Committees who vote on players, managers, umpires from the past.  Last year Jim Leyland entered the Hall of Fame via one of the Era Committees.  This year, Dick Allen is on one of those ballots.  Allen should have been elected by the writers based on his performance in MLB, but he was overlooked.  I think the pertinent Era Committee considering his candidacy should correct that oversight.

Switching gears – – but staying with baseball …  One other feature of MLB’s off season is that the baseball rules mavens get to contemplate new rules for the game.  In recent times, those folks have been successful with the installation of the pitch clock (games are faster and more interesting on TV to be sure) and with the encouragement of stolen bases (larger bases and limitations on holding runners).  The rules mavens have also instituted a negative element into the game with the “ghost runners” on second base at the start of extra innings, but failure is to be expected as part of baseball.

There are reports/rumors out there that the rules mavens may be considering a really bad rule change.  Commissioner Rob Manfred supposedly said there is a lot of “buzz” around a new rule labeled as the “Golden Hitter Rule”.  This rule change would allow a team at any point in a game a one-time chance to send its best hitter to the plate no matter where the team is in the standard batting order.  I am unaware of any version of that rule having been “tested/evaluated” in a lower level of baseball, so I have no data to use to draw conclusions.  However, absent data, I think that might be detrimental to the game and not a step forward.

Finally, since today has been about MLB’s off season, let me close with these words from Hall of Famer, Rogers Hornsby:

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………